ATLANTIC CITY -- Addressing a conference of addiction treatment professionals Friday, Gov. Chris Christie said the state's opioid addiction epidemic reminds him of another disease outbreak: the HIV and AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

"There's a lot of similarities," he said. "People who are in denial about the lives that are being lost; certain value judgements that are being placed upon the conduct of people who then get this disease."

And the result of those things, he said, also looks similar: "A lack of availability of treatment and a failure by those who are sick to be willing to ask for treatment, and for their family members to come forward and ask for help," he said.

The governor acknowledged that he was preaching to the choir at the New Jersey Prevention Network's Annual Addiction Conference. The one-day conference at the Atlantic City Convention Center aims to educate prevention and treatment professionals about current issues regarding substance abuse.

Christie said Friday that he has his sights set on erasing the stigma that stops addicts from seeking help, just as those with HIV or AIDS have experienced.

"We need to give the addicts the permission to ask for help," he said.

He said that he couldn't understand why his own late mother's disease, lung cancer, was treated any differently since it was brought about by her inability to quit smoking, though she tried many times.

"No one came to me and told me she was getting what she deserved," he said. "People reacted very differently. They recommended doctors and hospitals, they talked about different treatments... They all wanted her to recover."

Christie highlighted the state's efforts to combat the stigma, including a new ad campaign featuring recovering addicts directing people to seek help through "ReachNJ." It's a website and helpline with resources for those seeking help.

He also talked about the direction of the national commission he now chairs to fight opioid addiction. The conference's other keynote speaker, Bertha K. Madras, is also a commission member.

One goal of the commission will be to promote realistic and proactive education to prevent youth from trying opioids. He said education needs to begin as early as third or fourth grade, and he poked fun at a Department of Education official who proudly told the commission about a new pamphlet on the dangers of the drugs.

Christie said as a dad of teenagers, he knows what will happen to that pamphlet. "It would go into their backpack, completely unread," he said.

"If it's not on one of these," he said, holding up his cellphone, "They won't read it."

With that in mind, he said, the commission is going to "reach out to companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Snapchat and say, 'What are you willing to do to step up to the plate and help to educate our kids to avoid getting into this disease in the first place."

The governor also continued his strong stance on doctors who overprescribe opioids, calling the amount of painkillers prescribed by doctors "obscene." Four out of five people who are addicted to heroin started by taking pills, he said.

He said prevention starts with educating doctors, but also requires that they be monitored and punished if they are not prescribing responsibly.

"Believe me, I've traveled the country, they're not getting educated about it," he said. "You know who's educating them about it? The pharmaceutical companies whose sales people come into their offices, hand them prescription pads and tell them to write the prescriptions."

The law Christie signed in requiring insurance companies to cover six months of treatment also prohibits doctors from writing an initial painkiller prescription for more than a five-day supply.

Christie said he usually finishes speeches like the one he gave Friday by repeating, "There but the grace of God go I," as a reminder that addiction can and will affect anyone, no matter how educated or well-to-do.

"How can you turn your back on dealing with a problem when it may be in your lap?" he said.